Cracks in the House of Pawar

Ajit PawarOn September 24, Prithviraj Chavan, the Maharashtra chief minister, met Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar at the latter's Delhi home. Pawar casually referred to recent stories that targeted Ajit Pawar, his nephew and state deputy chief minister. The unstated implication was obvious: He thought Chavan had leaked the stories to the press. The Chief Minister adopted an equally casual tone and replied that in the age of Right to Information, nothing was secret anymore.

Less than 24 hours later, Chavan was at the Mumbai airport on his way to board a plane to Pune, when a letter was delivered to his office and accepted by his Principal Secretary A.K. Jain. It was from Ajit Pawar, tendering his resignation. An hour later, all the other 19 NCP ministers in the state government handed in their resignations, not to Chavan but to NCP state unit chief Madhukar Pichad. A day later, 16 independent MLAs who support the Congress-NCP government affirmed that they would continue their support only if Ajit Pawar remained in the council of ministers. It was obvious who was calling the shots, and for once, it was not the senior Pawar.

At a press conference in Mantralaya, Mumbai, soon after his resignation, Ajit Pawar said he had quit so that he would not be in a position to influence the ongoing enquiry against him in a multi-crore irrigation scam. He is accused of irregularities in clearing irrigation projects worth Rs 20,000 crore, during his tenure as water resources minister between 1999 and 2009. It is alleged that he bent rules and allowed tenders for these projects without getting the requisite clearance from the governing body of the Vidarbha Irrigation Development Council. In May this year, the Chief Minister announced that he would bring out a white paper on the scam, probing the years when Ajit Pawar held the portfolio.

Sharad PawarMore than the white paper, what irked Ajit Pawar was that documents incriminating him were being selectively leaked to a prominent national daily. NCP workers blame the Chief Minister's Office for the sustained campaign against their leader. A defiant Ajit Pawar claims his actions are within the frame of law. "I do not like keeping decisions on files pending. So I cleared the projects on the demand of the Opposition parties. The governor has given the minister special rights to clear the projects," he said at the Mantralaya press meet. Ajit Pawar has refused to withdraw his resignation until the contentious white paper is presented and he is cleared of all allegations.

The enquiry has been on for the last four months. Why did Ajit Pawar wait so long to confront his alliance partner? One reason is that his resignation is as much a message to the Congress as it is to his uncle. Ever since NCP supremo Sharad Pawar indicated that daughter Supriya Sule could be his political heir, his nephew has been trying to assert control over the party, with some degree of success. Fifty of NCP's 62 MLAs owe their allegiance to Ajit Pawar and not his uncle. Perhaps realising this, Sharad Pawar brought his daughter to Delhi, giving up his own, carefully nurtured Baramati constituency for her.

"There has always been a division of turf. Supriya Sule at the Centre and Ajit Pawar at the state," says an NCP MP. However, in June this year, Sharad Pawar launched the Rashtrawadi Yuvati Congress, a young women's wing headed by Sule, as an official wing of NCP. Sule has held rallies in various Lok Sabha constituencies across the state, in a bid to reach out to the grassroots. "During its launch, Sharad Pawar spoke of the power of women leaders such as Mayawati. This lead to speculation that he was promoting Supriya as Ajit's alternative," says a state Congress MP. The more telling sign of succession was when Sule's father vacated the post of president of Yeshwantrao Chavan Pratisthan trust on September 21 for her. For the record, Ajit Pawar says, "Pawar vs Pawar is created by the media. We have given saheb (Sharad Pawar) the right to take the final decision. There is no friction."

Supriya SuleSule is always the first to scotch such speculation. The 43-year-old refers to Ajit Pawar as dada (elder brother). She claims they talk every day, but when asked about what they discuss, she says: "It is a conversation between a brother and a sister. You don't need to know what we talk about."

The two cousins are worlds apart. Dressed in ethnic chic, the affable Sule is comfortable with limelight. She is building her image as a woman with a cause-women's rights, education and malnutrition being main concerns. The telegenic Sule is the one explaining NCP's stand on various issues to the media nowadays. In contrast, her 53-year-old cousin is a taciturn presence. Before joining politics, he ran the family's business of milk and poultry. His conversation tends to be blunt and monosyllabic. After becoming the deputy chief minister in 2010, he appointed a tutor to teach him English, but soon gave up.

There has been no direct confrontation between the two cousins. In 2009, when the Congress appointed Ashok Chavan as the state chief minister, Pawar opted for Chhagan Bhujbal as NCP's candidate for deputy chief minister, overlooking his nephew's claims. In 2010, when Congress replaced Ashok Chavan with Prithviraj, the young Pawar orchestrated a show of strength among NCP MLAs, and ensured his uncle made him the deputy chief minister.

Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj ChavanSharad Pawar underplayed the mass resignations of the NCP ministers by telling the media that "my party workers would have done the same for me under the circumstances". He also said the state government was "stable". By engineering the mass resignation drama, Ajit Pawar has ensured that the Maharashtra government is no longer as stable as his uncle would like to claim. Sharad Pawar has also told Chavan to accept his nephew's resignation. Acknowledging Ajit Pawar's clout, he has also said that NCP will not be filling the deputy chief minister's slot.

Ajit Pawar has not resigned as NCP legislative party leader. He has even recommended names for the two portfolios that he has vacated-finance and power. This is significant because portfolio allocation is usually the older Pawar's prerogative. Party sources also point out that Ajit Pawar was unhappy with the tame end to the recent NCP revolt against the Congress. In August this year, Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel had resigned from the Union Cabinet, claiming they had been treated shoddily by the Congress both in Maharashtra and Delhi. The nephew had been pushing for the chief minister to be changed, but the uncle did not take the demand to its logical end. Ajit Pawar had hoped Chavan would be shifted to Delhi in the impending Cabinet reshuffle. But during his September 24 Delhi visit, Chavan met Sonia Gandhi, who assured him that, contrary to rumours, his job was safe. This was not good news for Ajit Pawar.

Known for his rough-and-ready style of politics, Ajit Pawar had initially thought he would hold sway over the more gentlemanly Chavan. But he was wrong. Backed by 10 Janpath, the affable Chavan took on his deputy. He hit Ajit Pawar's money power by appointing administrators in the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank in September 2011. This took control of the bank's funds away from Ajit Pawar.

Ajit Pawar has hit back. Sharad Pawar and Chavan know that has he has the potential-and the chutzpah-to wrest the state away from their control. The writing is on white paper.